Medieval plague doctor4/29/2024 ![]() Charles d’Lorme, a French physician, came up with the design around 1630. ![]() The title of plague doctor has existed since at least the early 14th century (we’ll be exploring a specific case a little later) but the outfit we know wasn’t devised until around the 17th century. There was little recourse but to hope you wouldn’t be next to be struck down. Medical practitioners at the time were wholly unprepared for such a virulent disease and no contemporary treatments were effective against it. With symptoms ranging from a high fever, lumps around the armpits and legs, vomiting and painful spasms, death usually followed in 5 days. The disease itself made a number of comebacks over the years, most notably in the 1600s. The Plague, or the Black Death, first struck Western Europe in 1348 and is believed to have wiped out around 50% of the world’s population at the time. Before we go into the individuals themselves, it would do well to remind ourselves about the profession they held and what they were up against. It’s not known whether or not they wore the distinctive outfit that is typically seen to mark their station, but they definitely held the title from what documents indicate. For this post, we’re going to be looking at three different accounts of plague doctors that have survived in historical documentation. ![]() They lived and died, put themselves at great personal risk to carry out their duties, much like any doctor would today. Some even believe that they didn’t actually exist and are something that has been over exaggerated in popular media. Men dressed in dark robes and beaked masks, here to confirm what will be, for most, a tortuously painful death from which there is almost no escape. With their rather bizarre appearance and sinister connotations, plague doctors tend to be seen as a single, nebulous entity.
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